Rail joint



F. B. ELLIOTT RAIL JOINT July 31, 1923' Filed Nov. 10. 1922 (Jhvdn'liM-I .3 F 0 (0 V 4 I 2 g 2 3 Frank 1125215021 Witness: 5 v @M f. 60M. dmww Patented July 31, 1923.

1 ran 'rr FRANK B. ELLIOTT, OF BELLE PLAINE, KANSAS.

RAIL JOINT.

Application filed November n, 1922. Seria1No. O,044.

T 0 all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, FRANK B. ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Belle Plaine, in the county of Sumner and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail Joints, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to rail-joints adapted for use on steam railways, electric railways, and the like, and the present invention is an improvement over my rail-joint disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,013,002, granted December 26, 1911.

The object of the present invention is to retain the resilient feature of my patented rail-joint, but instead of making the same in one piece as formerly, I now make the rail-joint in two pieces which can be manufactured and applied to the rails more quickly than the said one-piece rail-joint.

In order that the invention may be fully understood, reference willnow be had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the rail joint ready to be applied to two abutting rails.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the rail-joint applied to the rails.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, irregular cross section on line III-IIT of Fig. 2.

In carrying out the invention, I provide a rail-joint member comprising a base 2, a brace 4, a wing 6, and a seat 8. The base 2 is considerably wider than the bottoms A of the abutting rails B, so that when the rai1joint member is applied to said rails B and secured to ties C by spikes D the rails will be reliably secured from spreading apart or turning over. The wide base 2 also presents a broad bearing surface to the underlying ties C, so that the longitudinal margins 10 will not sink or cut into said ties C and thus damage the same.

The brace 4 is formed integral with the base 2 near one of the margins 10 and inclines upwardly and inwardly to the seat 8, which forms a resilient connection between the brace 4 and the wing 6 for a purpose which will hereinafter appear. The wing 6, which lies against the rail webs E, extends from the top of the adjacent flanges F to the adjacent undersides of the balls G of the rails and is made somewhat thicker than the rest of the rail-joint member to form, in conjunction with the brace 4, a substantial support for the seat 8, so that the latter will form a substantial support to the balls G-and'the weight of acar or train running over the rails B.

Theother member of the rail-joint comprises a plate 12 adapted to lie against the sides of the webs E opposite the sides engaged by the wing 6. The plate 12 is, preferably, of the same length as the wing 6 and extends from the top of the adjacent flanges F to the undersides of the balls G to coact with the seat A in supporting said balls G. The upper margin of the plate 12 is bent outwardly at an angle to provide a stiflenmg flange 14, which lies beneath and provides a relatively broad seat for the -adja cent undersides of the balls G. v

The brace 4, the wing 6 and the plate 12 have registering holes 16 for the passage of bolts 18 provided at their threaded ends with nuts 20 which abut washers 22 each.

of which has a bevel side 24 to lie against the inclined side of thebrace 4.

When the rail-joint is applied to the abutting rails B and the nuts 20 are tightened upon the bolts 18, the brace 4 and the wing 6 are forced towards each other and their tendency to spring apart exerts sutlicient pressure on the nuts 20 to lock the same from unscrewing and becoming loose on the bolts 18, unless a wrench is used.

By making the rail-joint in two parts as shown and described itcan be rolled or cast and easily applied to the abutting rails, not only reliably holding the same firmly together and upon the ties, but owingto the resilient feature constitutes a nut look as 7 above pointed out.

' From the foregoing description it will be understood that I have produced a novel rail joint which is strong and durable and I well adapted for the purpose intended, and whileI have shown the preferred construction of the device I reserve the right to make such changes as properly fall within the spirit and scope of'the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a rail joint, a base adapted to underlie the bottoms of two abutting rails, an inclined brace extending upwardly from one side of said base, a wing spaced from said brace and adapted to lie against the webs of the rails, a seat resiliently-connecting the upper portions of the brace and said wing, and bolts extending through the rails, the

brace and the wing. to secure the joint to the rails and forcethe free portion of said brace towards the Wing to create a nut-lock action on the bolts, substantially as described.

2. A rail joint comprising a base adapted to underlie the bottoms of tWo abutting rails, an inclined brace-extending. upwardly at an angle from said base adjacent to oneof the longitudinal margins, thereof, a Wing spaced from SELlCl= brace and adapted to he against the Webs of the-railsa seat res liently-connecting the upper portions of the brace and said Wing so'thatthej former may be sprung toward'sthe latter and create a nut-lock action on bolts passing through the rails and the joint to secure the latter to the former.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in the presence of two Witnesses.

FRANK B. ELLIOTT. Witnesses:

D. J. WALTER, C. B. LAMBE. 

